Morph
by Kolarthecool
Summary: Another Godlike Naruto story. A chance encounter with the Kyuubi sets a young Naruto on the path to greatness. Dark!Naruto, Godlike!Naruto, Rated m to be safe, Warning: contains cliches.
1. Chapter 1

**Morph**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the other Animes I may 'burrow' techniques from.

* * *

Ten year old Uzumaki Naruto frowned as he gazed into the crimson pupils of his tenant, the Kyuubi gazed back with amusement and interest clear in its eyes.

Today was the tenth of October, the tenth anniversary of the demons sealing as well as Naruto's birthday. As with his birthdays before, Naruto had been hunted down by a mob of angry -and drunk; very, very drunk- villagers and beaten brutally. Unlike his last beatings however the boy had awoken somewhere other than the hospital, his mind-scape.

It hadn't taken him long to discover the Kyuubi and its cage, at first the boy had been terrified when faced with the terror that was the Kyuubi no Kitsune but after a few minutes the demon had managed to calm the frightened child and explain how and why it was within his mind.

Naruto now stood in thought while the demon sat waiting.

"I see." Naruto murmured after a few minutes. "So I'm not actually a demon like all the villagers seem to believe, I'm just the prison."

**"Correct."** Kyuubi replied grinning at the much smaller child. **"You're much smarter than you look human."**

Of course Kyuubi -having lived in Naruto's body for ten years- knew how smart the boy truly was. While the boy normally acted like a fool in public and was the dead last of his class, he was actually quite intelligent and perceptive. Naruto had long ago realized that the villagers would hate him more if he did well in class so he had chosen to hide behind the persona of a fool, a mask he had intended to keep until he was a ninja and out of the deathly grip of the council.

Naruto chose to ignore the comment. "So the villagers all know about you being sealed in me?" He asked after a few seconds.

**"Only the adults," ** Kyuubi replied with a wide grin.** "The old Kage made it illegal for anyone to speak of the sealing to the younger generation."**

Naruto scowled when he heard the demon mention the Sandaime Hokage, oh how he despised that man.

The Sandaime was absolutely worthless in his eyes, he was almost as bad as the rest of the village. Sure, the man had always been kind to him and seemed to truly care for him but he was so useless and ineffective at the same time. Sarutobi would always, always, arrive just after his beatings; far too late to do anything other than take him to the hospital and even that was pointless since Kyuubi would heal the wounds anyways. Also rather than punish the attackers Sarutobi would simply allow the council to walk all over him and set them free, the man had no backbone whatsoever. The last straw for him though was when the old man would come to him and actually ask for him, an innocent child who had done nothing wrong, to forgive them of their sins. After the fifth time Naruto had stopped caring about the old man and what he had to say, Sarutobi had become just another villager to him.

"Of course he did." Naruto sneered in distaste and annoyance. "This just proves what I've always known, the people of this village are idiots."

Kyuubi chuckled at the child's words. **"Oh don't worry kid, you'll soon learn that all humans are idiots."**

Naruto smirked slightly before looking back to the demon. "So what now?" He asked

**"Now?"** Kyuubi's grin widened.** "Now we make a deal."**

Naruto eyed the demon skeptically. "What sort of deal?"

**"A trade."** Kyuubi replied. **"I want my freedom, in exchange I'll give you the power to achieve whatever goals you may have."**

Naruto's eyes widened. "Free you? Why should I? How do I know you won't just kill me once you're free?."

**"Much much smarter than you look."** The demon stated with a smirk. **"I'll give you my word not to kill you after I've been set free, a demons word is like a binding contract; if I break it, bad things happen, painful things."** Kyuubi actually shuddered as its eyes glazed over, a moment later in eyes snapped back to the child before it. **"Besides most of my power has been drained over the years thanks to this blasted seal; after I give you this power, I'll need to sleep for at least a few hundred years to regain what I've lost."**

Naruto stood in thought as he weighed the pros and cons of the deal. On one hand he would have the power to defend himself from the villagers and become a powerful ninja someday, on the other hand he...hmm there didn't seem to be any cons to the deal.

With a smirk that matched the Kyuubi's he replied. "What sort of power?"

Kyuubi grinned.

**"The power of a Kitsune." **The demon replied.

Seeing the confused look on the young boys face Kyuubi continued.

**"My chakra has been flowing through you since just hours after your birth, it's been healing you, strengthening you and changing you."** The demon explained.** "The more you use my power the more Kitsune like you become, in form at least. What I intend to do is use that chakra and give you the abilities of a true Kitsune."**

"Abilities of a Kitsune?" Naruto asked with a confused expression. What sort of abilities did Kitsunes have? There weren't many books in the village on such creatures, most likely due to the Kyuubi's attack a decade ago.

**"Oh yes, you see Kitsunes may be known as tricksters and pranksters but we have some incredibly powerful abilities, as the oldest and most powerful Kitsune alive I will grant you a few of these abilities." **Kyuubi explained.** "If you agree that is."**

"Alright, we have a deal." Naruto grinned with glee. "Now what are they?" He asked joyfully.

Kyuubi smiled darkly before replying. **"The first is the Kitsune-bi(Foxfire), it will allow you to easily summon up a ball of fire without using any of those silly hand seals you humans invented; the more chakra you pour into the technique the bigger and hotter the flames."**

Naruto's grin widened at this.

'Ha! Take that Sasuke-teme, my fireball will be loads better than yours.' He chuckled imagining the look on a certain Uchiha's face when he, the Dobe, managed to create a fireball with no hand seals.

His rivalry with Uchiha Sasuke was the one thing he allowed to bleed through to his idiot persona, since day one he had disliked the gloomy Uchiha and vice-versa. Over the years their mutual dislike had turned into a sort of rivalry between the two since they were usually paired together in Taijutsu class. Although Sasuke would always win their little fights Naruto was sure they were quite evenly matched, unfortunately he could never use his full power due to his persona.

Unaware of its vessels thoughts Kyuubi continued on.

**"This ability also has the added effect of making you immune to most flames, only the hottest of fires will be able to harm you,"** The demon spoke as crimson chakra surrounded it and rushed at the boy. **"Now hold still."**

"Huh?" Naruto asked dumbstruck before the chakra latched onto him and he started to scream. From his head to his toes his entire body was aflame with pain, it felt like he was being slowly burnt alive.

As fast as it had come the pain vanished and Naruto groaned. He had collapsed to his knees during the ordeal but with the pain gone now he was able to stand, if somewhat shakily.

"Shit." He cursed as phantom pains raced through his form "You didn't tell me it would hurt so much."

**"You didn't ask."** The demon answered "**Had enough?" **It asked with a smirk.

Naruto growled and shook his head no.

"Good, now to use the Kitsune-bi simply mold chakra in either one of your hands or your mouth while thinking of flames."

Kyuubi had barely finished speaking before a large ball of orange fire sprung to life in the boy's right hand, the ball was three times the size of Naruto's head and radiated with heat.

Naruto was taken by surprise by the size of the fireball and jumped in shock causing the Kitsune-bi to fall into the water below him, the fireball went out as soon as it hit the water but not before causing a cloud of steam to cover most of the room.

"Heh heh." The blond grinned sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head.

Kyuubi sighed and Naruto was sure he saw one of its eyes twitch but that could have been from the steam.

**"You'll need more practice but once you've mastered the technique you'll be able to easily control the size and intensity of the flames."** The demon stated evenly.

Naruto nodded in reply.

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage, sat with a worried expression on his face as he looked over the body of young Uzumaki Naruto, the vessel of the Kyuubi and his adopted grandson.

Like many times before he had arrived far too late to save Naruto from the mob of angry villagers and could do nothing more than bring the injured child to the hospital, where he then had to threaten the staff just to get a room for the boy.

'Oh Minato, if you knew the life your child would face would you still have saved this village?' He pondered sadly.

Looking over the boys form Sarutobi frowned as he noticed that Naruto was still unconscious, not asleep just unconscious. Usually after one of these attacks the boy would heal in under half an hour, thanks to his tenant, and awaken five minutes after.

It had been two hours since Naruto had healed.

Sarutobi couldn't help but feel worried for the boy, what was keeping him unconscious?

His reply came in the form of crimson chakra that exploded from the seal and surrounded the boy. He heard the door slam open as his two ANBU guards entered the room but the Kage was already moving.

The Sandaime was at Naruto's side in an instant with one hand glowing with the multicolored flames of the Gogyo Fuin while the other held the child's shirt up so he could see the seal.

Strangely enough the Kyuubi's chakra vanished a moment later with no change in the Shiki Fuin.

'What just happened? What is the demon doing?' Sarutobi wondered as the evil feeling of the Kyuubi's chakra soon faded from the room.

"Wolf, gather your squad and retrieve Jiraiya, inform him that it is of the utmost importance." Sarutobi ordered as his eyes gazed over the seal.

The wolf masked ANBU nodded and vanished with a poof.

"Bird get me a med-nin, I want to know what's happening." Sarutobi continued.

The second ANBU nodded before vanishing as well.

'What are you up to in there Kyuubi.' Sarutobi pondered with a frown.

* * *

"What's next?" Naruto asked as the steam from his Kitsune-bi cleared and he could see Kyuubi clearly.

**"Next is the Kitsune's natural affinity for illusions, normally this would allow you to cast illusions so elaborate that they can hardly be distinguished from reality but thanks to this blasted seal you have far too much chakra and not enough control to cast even the most basic of illusions."**

Naruto frowned slightly.

**"That's why I decided to cheat and created this."** Kyuubi continued, grinning madly.

There was a flash of red light from Naruto's right hand and when it cleared he noticed that he now wore an elaborate ring on his pointer finger.

The ring was made completely out of silver with a pair of foxes engraved onto it, both foxes were facing each other while their bodies curved along the ring until their tails touched and wrapped around each other. Each fox had one visible eye and within each eye was a small, beautifully carved ruby that seemed to pulse with his heart beat.

Kyuubi grinned as it saw the look of awe, wonder and curiosity on the boys face.

**"Simply channel chakra into the eyes of the ring and they will release a flash of red light."** The demon explained.

Naruto looked up with a confused expression. "A flash of light? What good is that?"

Kyuubi's grin widened.

**"The ring allows you to cast illusions over a persons five senses, the light is simply the first stage. After seeing the light just once a person will fall into a sort of hypnotic state allowing you to easily control what they see, hear, smell, taste and feel. The illusions are so powerful that one would need as much chakra as a seven-tailed Biju or a very powerful Dojutsu to pierce through them and even with a Dojutsu the other four senses would still be affected. "**

Naruto looked down at the ring with a new level of awe.

**"As long as you have that ring you'll be able to cast illusions as powerful as mine, a nine-tailed Kitsune."** Kyuubi finished with a prideful tone **"However the illusions wear off once you stop giving the ring chakra so be careful."**

Naruto nodded distractedly while he continued to stare at the small ring, the small ring that held so much power.

* * *

"Well? What's happening?" Sarutobi asked as the med-nin stepped away from the boy.

"I don't know Hokage-sama." The man said after a moment looking down on Naruto distastefully. "Something has changed in the de-**boy** though."

"What's happened?" Sarutobi asked with a slight frown at the mans tone.

"Before the 'event' the** boy** had only wind natured chakra." The med-nin began. "However he now has a secondary element of fire, sir."

Sarutobi stared at him with wide eyes. "Wind and fire? How is that possible? Wind and fire are opposing elements, it should be impossible to have both at the same time without a Kekkai Genkai."

The med-nin flipped through some pages on a clipboard before replying.

"There seems to be an increase in the amount of demonic chakra flowing through it-his body, this leads me to believe it has some thing to do with the.."

"Kyuubi." Sarutobi cut in. "But why would the demon do something like this? Why give Naruto another chakra element?"

"In my opinion sir this is just further proof that the demon may be gaining its freedom, perhaps he should be disp-"

The spike of killer intent from the Sandaime cut the man off as Sarutobi glared at him.

"Thank you **Doctor, **that will be all." Sarutobi ground out.

The med-nin quickly fled the room. Neither man noticed the small ring that had appeared on the boys hand.

* * *

**"Now for the last, and in my opinion best, ability of the Kitsune clan."** Kyuubi announced with a wide grin.

Naruto looked up from the ring on his finger with slight shock, after all how does one top nearly unbreakable illusions?

**"All Kitsune's after a certain age gain the ability to shape shift, an ability you already have from me."** Kyuubi continued.

Naruto's eyes widened slightly. "I can shape shift?" He asked in confusion.

Kyuubi snorted.** "Of course, didn't you notice with that Orioke no Jutsu of yours?"** The demon asked with a raised brow.

"But that's just a Henge." Naruto countered.

**"Henge's aren't solid brat, a Henge is an illusionary technique."** Kyuubi replied.** "You can't cast illusions because of your lack of chakra control, so if you can't use Henge and your transformations are solid what does this mean?"**

"I can shape shift." Naruto whispered.

Kyuubi nodded.** "Of course its not true shape shifting, all you're really doing is surrounding yourself in chakra and making it solid; useful but flawed. It is similar to the technique I use to heal your wounds."**

"Huh? I thought you just, I dunno, healed them."

**"Nope, Kitsunes aren't healers. All I do is cover your wounds in my chakra and shift it into real skin, muscle and blood, it only seems like your healing because the seal slows down how fast my chakra can work." **Kyuubi replied. **"Without the seal interfering all your wounds could have been 'healed' in an instant."**

Naruto nodded with a look of awe on his face.

**"However, since you already have the ability to shape shift using your chakra as a medium I'm going to enhance it further."** Kyuubi continued.

Naruto's eyes widened.

**"I'll give you the true shape shifting of an elder Kitsune allowing you to control your form on a genetic level, simply put you'll be able to take any shape and form; you'll even be able to change the composition of your body."** Kyuubi explained.

**"Be careful though brat, your cells will devour chakra in order to shift and maintain the form, the bigger you get the more chakra you'll use up." **Kyuubi warned before grinning. **"But considering the fact that you'll be getting at least six tails of my chakra from this seal, you should be able to take some really big forms."**

Naruto's eyes grew impossibly wide as he realized the implications of this power, with the amount of chakra he had now he could possibly become the size of a small building. How huge could he get with six tails of the Kyuubi's chakra added to his?

**"Brace yourself brat, this one is going to hurt." **Kyuubi stated with a gleam in its eye. **"Its going to hurt, a lot."**

With that said the crimson chakra of the Kitsune lord washed over him and Naruto's world exploded with pain.

* * *

Sarutobi grimaced as the aura of crimson chakra surrounded the blond haired boy once more, he could see the obvious signs of pain on the child's face and it saddened him that he could do nothing to help Naruto. He had attempted the Gogyo Fuin moments ago but the seal had just dissipated moments after it was applied, whatever was going on he was powerless to stop it.

Thankfully he had placed barrier seals on the walls after the first spike of Kyuubi chakra, heaven forbid the council gets a whiff of this. One spike of demonic chakra could be played off as the demon healing its host but two spikes? There was no way he could talk his way out of that.

Besides the annoying vultures that made up the elder and civilian councils had probably already received word of the med-nin's assessment after the first spike. They would most likely be calling a council meeting soon to deal with the issue, after all Naruto having more demonic chakra flowing through him was a cause for concern.

Sarutobi sighed as he retook his seat, Naruto had calmed down after a few seconds and the demonic chakra was slowly dissipating.

'Naruto,' Sarutobi thought with another sigh. 'I hope Jiraiya arrives soon, before its too late.'

-Break-

As the pain faded Naruto grit his teeth and held in a groan, he was on his knees once more but this time his entire frame was shaking from phantom pains.

**"You alright brat?"** Kyuubi asked in an amused tone.

"Yeah, just peachy." Naruto grunted as he stood shakily.

**"Good, now come let me out of here, the sooner I'm gone from this sty the better."** The demon growled.

Naruto muttered something under his breath but slowly stalked up to the large doors of the demons cage. He grabbed hold of the seal before looking up into the excited eyes of the demon.

"Don't forget to swear the oath." The boy stated with a glare.

Kyuubi growled before rolling its eyes. **"I, Kyuubi of the Kitsune clan, do hereby swear not to harm Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto; providing he releases me from the seal that keeps me imprisoned." **

There was a rush of power as wind swirled around the two before everything returned to normal.

**"There happy?"** Kyuubi asked.

Naruto simply stared at the demon in shock.

"N-namikaze?" The boy stuttered out. "A-as in the Y-yondaime H-hokage, N-namikaze M-minato?"

The demon rolled its eyes.** "Of course brat. He was your father after all. How did you not figure that out? How many other people in this village have blond hair and blue eyes?." **Kyuubi asked in a mocking tone.

Naruto hung his head as a frown crossed his face.

'The Yondaime was my father? He sealed the Kyuubi in me? He ruined my LIFE!' The boy seethed. 'And Sarutobi! He obviously knew, he is the Hokage after all. He lied straight to my face! That wrinkly old bastard!'

**"Oi brat, let me out already!"** Kyuubi shouted ignorant to its vessels mood.

Without even a glance up Naruto ripped the seal off in one quick movement. Turning on his heel the blond stomped away from the cage, leaving the giddy demon behind.

Kyuubi stared after Naruto with a worried expression before it shrugged and grinned.

**"Sweet sweet freedom, thank kami-sama the boy was willing to listen to reason."** The demon chuckled as it stepped out of the cage that had contained it for the last decade.

With a swish of its mighty tails the demon tore a hole in the fabric of space and stepped through, leaving the mortal world behind.

The second the Kyuubi was gone a torrent of glowing blue chakra exploded from within the cage and proceeded to flow through the corridors of Naruto's mind. As the wave of chakra passed by the grimy red walls of the sewer cleared to reveal pristine white walls with large blue pipes lining them, the darkened water cleared and faded away leaving Naruto's mind to now look like a maze of white walls rather than the disgusting sewer it once was.

* * *

Outside his mind Naruto open his eyes and immediately hissed as he was blinded by the bright, white roof of the hospital room.

'Too bright!' The child cursed.

As soon as the thought passed through his mind Naruto felt a twinge in his eyes and everything in the room darkened.

'At least I know the shape shifting is working.' He thought as he brought his hands up to rub the spots out of his eyes.

"Naruto?" A voice said from beside him and Naruto turned to see the source.

His eyes narrowed as he sent his most hate filled glare at the source.

"Sarutobi." The boy ground out, the words laced with so much malice that the Sandaime flinched. "You and I have much to talk about."

Sarutobi gulped.

* * *

Sarutobi looked up when he felt Naruto's chakra spike, not the Kyuubi's chakra but Naruto's this time.

'His chakra, its getting...bigger?' The old man thought with wide eyes.

Sure enough he could sense Naruto's chakra levels rising higher and higher. The boy had always had plenty of chakra for someone his age but this? This was ridiculous.

At ten years old Naruto had already had the chakra reserves of a high level Chunin but now as he lay in bed with his eyes shut his chakra level was rising higher.

Special Jonin.

Sarutobi leapt to his feet and began examining the boy, nothing seemed to be amiss.

Jonin.

The boy was simply laying comfortably, Sarutobi reached for his shirt once more to examine the seal.

Elite Jonin.

The seal was gone, the SEAL was GONE! What the hell?

ANBU Commander.

Sarutobi backed up a step in shock, where had the seal gone? What was happening?

Kage.

Was the Kyuubi escaping? Should he call for the ANBU? Could they defeat the demon if it possessed Naruto's body?

Biju.

No, this wasn't Kyuubi. The chakra felt completely human, it felt like Naruto.

Sarutobi collapsed in his seat as the amount of chakra within Naruto's body reached a level even he could not comprehend, no human had ever possessed so much chakra. Only a fellow Jinchuriki tapping into their demon would come close to the boy, what had happened to Naruto?

Sarutobi was drawn from his thoughts by a hiss, he looked up to see Naruto rubbing his eyes.

'His eyes are still blue.' Sarutobi noticed immediately 'Then its not the Kyuubi, what has happened to Naruto? What happened to the seal?'

"Naruto?" Sarutobi asked after a moment, he was sure it was still the boy in there but what if the demon had found some way to possess the boy?

Naruto turned to look at him and Sarutobi almost flinched at the pure unbridled hate in the boys eyes.

"Sarutobi."

The tone used caused him to flinch.

"You and I have much to talk about."

Sarutobi gulped.


	2. Chapter 2

**Morph**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the other Animes I may 'burrow' techniques from.

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage, sat with his head in his hands as his mind tried to wrap around the information he had just been provided.

Naruto knew about the Kyuubi.

Well, crap.

Of course he had always planned on telling the boy about his burden but he had planned to do it after Naruto became a genin, now the boy had found out about it -from the demon itself- and was royally pissed.

A bad situation but still, nothing he couldn't handle. He would just have to explain it to the boy and hope he could understand.

* * *

"..that's when I made the law about keeping your status secret so you could have a chance with the younger generation." Sarutobi finished with a regretful expression on his face.

Naruto's glare persisted. "Fat load of good that did." The boy hissed causing the Sandaime to flinch once more.

"I'm sorry dear boy, the Yondaime had truly wanted you to be seen as a hero but the villagers were too filled with grief and hate to see past the demon contained within you." Sarutobi explained with a solemn expression.

Naruto sighed after a moment. "At least my father wasn't the utter bastard I had thought he was."

"Of course not, Minato was...wait what?" Sarutobi's eyes widened as Naruto's sentence caught up to him.

This was bad.

The hate filled glare returned as Naruto scowled at him.

"Oh yes, did I forget to mention that?" The boy sneered. "Let's talk about dear old dad why don't we."

Very very bad.

* * *

Naruto knew about his Father.

Well, fuck.

Why oh why couldn't the damn fox keep its thrice damned mouth shut about state secrets? Well if Naruto was pissed off before he was five times more pissed now.

Another bad situation but he could deal with it. Naruto was proving more sensible than usual today, he would simply have to explain about his fathers enemies and how the information was kept secret to protect him. Perhaps he could even appease the boy by telling him about his mother.

* * *

"...and they both loved you, they truly did." Sarutobi finished smiling sadly at the look on the boys face.

Naruto wiped away his tears and turned his bright eyes back to the Hokage.

"And my godparents?" He asked after a moment. "My parents must have chosen for someone to care for me in case they died, what happened to my godparents?"

Sarutobi winced.

"Your godfather was Jiraiya, the.." Sarutobi began.

"Toad Sannin and mentor of the Yondaime." Naruto finished with a frown.

Sarutobi looked shocked for a moment before he schooled his expression. "You seem more mature and knowledgeable than I remember Naruto." Sarutobi stated with slightly narrowed eyes.

"You're assuming you knew anything about me." The boy replied with a roll of his eyes. "Did you really think anyone could go through the life I have and come out so cheerful and happy?"

Sarutobi grimaced, how could he not have seen it before? Of course Naruto wore a mask, had he really believed that the boy would grow up to be such a cheerful ball of energy with the life he had lived?

"I'm so sorry Naruto." The man said in a saddened tone.

"Whatever." The boy scoffed. "My godfather?"

Sarutobi sighed.

"Jiraiya was and still is one of the villages top spy masters, due to the nature of his work there was no way he could travel around while taking care of a child, it was simply too dangerous. There was also no possible way for him to stay and care for you within the village since he was needed to maintain the spy network." Sarutobi explained.

Naruto frowned but nodded in understanding.

Sarutobi smiled slightly. "I can tell you that he does care for you though, he always stops by to drop off a gift for you each year around your birthday and each time he sends a report he asks about you."

Narutos eyes widened at this. "A gift?" He asked.

"Of course, where do you think your goggles and that cute nightcap and wallet came from?" Sarutobi asked with a raised brow.

Naruto smiled softly at this, he had found said gifts on his doorstep each year and although he had never known who dropped them off they were his most cherished items.

"My godmother?" Naruto asked after a few minutes of silence.

Sarutobi sighed once again.

"Tsunade of the Sannin." He replied simply.

Naruto scowled "And why isn't she here?"

Sarutobi frowned before he set about explaining about Tsunade and her many, many issues.

"So, she hates Konoha simply because her brother and fiance died?" Naruto asked in an even tone.

Sarutobi nodded. "She was also best friends with your mother and Kushina's death hit her hard, it was the last straw and Tsunade left the very next day."

Naruto grit his teeth.

"That bitch." He hissed angrily.

Sarutobi scowled. "Now Naruto, you have to understand that she suffered many losses to the village."

"So what?" The boy hissed "This is a Ninja village, how many others have lost those they loved? Why should she get to shirk her responsibilities when others would be hunted down for doing the same?"

Try as he might Sarutobi couldn't come up with a defense for his former student. He was slightly taken off guard by the malice held in the small child's words as well as Naruto's larger vocabulary, this Naruto was nothing like the one he saw everyday; how could he have missed it?

'How could I have failed him so?'

In an effort to regain control of the conversation and calm Naruto down Sarutobi decided to change the subject.

"Naruto what happened with the Kyuubi?" He asked after a moment. "Your seal vanished and I can't sense any demonic chakra coming from you."

The boy smirked devilishly.

"Well..."

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage, sat with his head in his hands as his mind tried to wrap around the information he had just been provided.

"Let me get this straight." The old man said after a moment. "The Kyuubi tried to possess you in order to free itself?"

Naruto nodded.

"Right when you were about to set it free a manifestation of the Yondaime and the Shinigami appeared within your mind."

Nod.

"The two then proceeded to activate a back up in the seal that not only destroyed the Kyuubi but left you with all the power the seal had managed to drain over the last decade, the equivalent of six tails."

Nod again.

"This is just, just unbelievable Naruto." Sarutobi groaned as he shook his head.

Naruto crossed his arms and scowled. "Well that's what happened Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi frowned at the formal address, what he wouldn't give to have the old Naruto back. He could still see parts of the old Naruto in this new one from the pout currently on his face and his excitement and sadness over the things they had discussed but the new Naruto was different as well. This Naruto was sarcastic, rude, cynical and could turn emotionless at the drop of a hat, he had seen the darkness inherent in his race and held no love for them; this Naruto was like many of his ANBU after a few years on the job.

"I'll have to inform the council of this Naruto, we'll most likely have to get a Hyuuga and a Yamanaka to take a look." The Sandaime explained. "If no trace of the Kyuubi is found then I guess we can announce the news to the villagers."

Naruto frowned. "Assuming I even decide to stay in the village." He stated after a moment.

Sarutobi's eyes widened. "What do you mean Naruto? You can't leave."

The boy glared at him. "You forget, Hokage-sama, that I am both an orphan and a civilian. It is well within my rights to leave the village whenever I please." The boy replied.

Sarutobi paled.

Naruto was correct and if his story about the Kyuubi was true then the boy could in fact pack up and leave and no one could legally stop him. If he was still a Jinchuriki then it was another matter but if what he had said about the Kyuubi was true, and Sarutobi was sure it was, then Naruto could leave whenever he pleased.

"This is your home Naruto, where will you go?" Sarutobi asked worriedly as he tried to find some way to keep the boy in the village.

"A home that abused me for years for something I had no control over." The boy countered "Besides I'm sure I can find a home in one of the other hidden villages."

"What about your dream? Don't you want to be Hokage?" Sarutobi asked hoping to appeal to some part of old Naruto.

Naruto scoffed and rolled his eyes. "That was never my dream, simply another part of the mask. I wasn't as stupid as I acted, I would have to be a fool to believe that the villagers would actually allow me to become Hokage; especially with the amount of hatred they held for me."

"But that can change Naruto, you can still become Hokage; once the village learns about the Kyuubi's demise their feelings for you will change." Sarutobi replied grasping at straws.

Naruto scoffed once more. "And why would I want to be leader of a village full of idiots and hypocrites? No thanks, my dream is now to become as powerful as I can; I will become the strongest ninja alive and make my parents proud."

"Then you'll stay in the village?" Sarutobi asked, smiling softly at Naruto's words. "Your parents would have liked for you to grow up in the village they once called home."

Naruto frowned slightly and glared at the older man. "If they were the kind of people you said they were then they would have wanted me to be happy above all else." Naruto grit out. "There's no way I can be happy in this village, and the first chance I get I'll be leaving, unless..."

"Unless what? What will it take for you to stay Naruto? I'll do anything." Sarutobi pleaded, he couldn't let Minatos legacy leave just like that.

Naruto grinned darkly. "I want everything that belongs to me, family scrolls, money, clan status, everything." The boy replied.

Sarutobi paled farther.

"I can't ju.."

"Yes, you can." Naruto interrupted. "I don't care about my fathers enemies, I've faced more danger from within the village than I would from outside it."

Sarutobi seemed to ponder this for a few minutes. What Naruto said was true, he had faced plenty of danger in his ten years. Also without the stigma of the Kyuubi, the shinobi forces and ANBU may work to actually protect the boy rather than harm him.

The Sandaime sighed. "Very well Naruto, as the last living member of the Namikaze and Uzumaki clans you can claim everything that belongs to both clans, you can then become clan head when you are officially an adult at the age of 18 or at the rank of genin."

Naruto smirked victoriously. "Good choice, had you said no I would have simply taken them and left." The boy replied.

Sarutobi gaped.

"You forget that I'm not as stupid as I pretended to be, I actually read the books assigned in class so I know many of the clan laws. Had I wanted to I could have taken what I wanted and left." The boy explained.

Sarutobi simply nodded and stood. His pride refused to let him forget the fact he had just been played by a ten year old child, a devious and ingenious little ten year old. He smiled softly as he thought about the pranks Naruto usually played, perhaps the new Naruto had always been there in plain view and they had never realized it; after all some of those pranks required stealth and planning well above the level of the old Naruto.

"Very well Naruto, I'll go prepare your things and call the council...although I'm sure they've already gathered after the first spike of Kyuubi's chakra." The Sandaime said.

Turning at the door he looked over the form of the young boy he had failed and gave a sigh.

"I'll send an ANBU to get you when the time comes." He stated as he closed the door.

* * *

Naruto watched as the door shut behind the Sandaime and smirked.

Perfect.

Things had gone far better than he had expected, not only had the old man bought the lie about the Kyuubi but he had also handed over the belongings of the Namikaze and Uzumaki clans.

Just perfect.

'I'll show all these bastards, Konoha will pay for how it treated me." The blond swore within his mind. 'I'll become the most powerful ninja alive and when they ask me to become Hokage, to lead and protect them, I'll look them all in the eye and say, 'fuck you'.'

With that last thought he sat back and began testing his new abilities.

* * *

Naruto's attention was drawn to the door of his room when he heard someone knocking.

"It'sss open." The boy hissed before cursing mentally and shifting his tongue back to normal.

'Note to self: Snake tongue, looks cool but not good for talking.'

The door opened and a silver-haired ANBU with a dog mask entered, the man wore the white cloak of an ANBU commander. From the gravity defying, silver hair Naruto could easily trace the man's identity to one of those he had read about.

'Hatake Kakashi, one of the strongest shinobi in the village and my fathers last remaining student.' Naruto thought with a frown. He had never really met Kakashi before but he had seen him around a few times, the man was one of the few in the village that was indifferent to him.

Kakashi neither liked nor hated him which was quite strange, one would think that Kakashi would hate the demon that had taken his sensei and father figure from him or at least feel some kindness for his sensei's child. This led him to believe that Kakashi actually saw him for the child he was and not the demon, yet he couldn't see far enough to place his looks with those of his father.

'He sent the ANBU commander to get me? Interesting.' Naruto thought with a frown.

"Uzumaki-san, the council demands your presence." The man drawled in a lazy tone.

Naruto nodded and stood from his bed, his pants and shirt were covered in rips and bloodstains which caused the ANBU to grip the doorknob tightly, anger flashing through his eyes.

'How could they do such a thing to a child?' Kakashi thought in anger.

Naruto, ignorant of the mans thoughts, simply grabbed his bloodstained orange jacket from a nearby chair and slipped it on, as his arms came through he noticed the ANBU watching him and was struck by an idea.

* * *

The ANBU's eyes widened when a red light flashed from the boys hand but he relaxed when nothing dangerous happened, looking at the boys hand he simply saw a small plastic ring with some seals on it; it looked like a simple toy.

"What's that?" He asked with a raised brow. Had one of the villagers given the boy a toy ring? If so then it may hold more danger than the boy knew.

Naruto grinned widely and scratched his neck sheepishly. "Just a toy I bought at the festival from a traveling merchant, it lights up when chakra is added to it." The boy replied "I was just making sure it didn't get broken."

Kakashi sighed in relief, if it was from a traveling merchant then there was no danger to it. The seals didn't look dangerous and he couldn't sense any of the dark chakra that usually went into cursed seals and explosives.

Naruto grinned as the ANBU nodded and walked over to his side. His excuse had been bought.

"I'll Shunshin us." Kakashi said grabbing the boys shoulder.

The dog masked ANBU completely missed the devious smirk on the blonds face as they vanished in a whirl of leaves.

* * *

Sarutobi and the other council members looked over to the side when a cloud of smoke appeared in the room, there was a flash of red light before the cloud cleared to reveal Naruto and the ANBU commander.

'Red light?' Sarutobi thought with a frown but he was drawn out of his thoughts when Naruto skipped over to stand beside him while the ANBU commander walked to his seat. The old man and many of the clan heads grimaced when they took in the child's ripped and bloodstained attire while some of the civilians actually smiled.

Naruto however had a wide grin on his face and looked as cheerful as ever, the mask was back in place.

"Uzumaki Naruto, do you know why you have been summoned before us?" One of the elders, Koharu, asked.

"Uh, something about the big bad fox in my tummy?" Naruto asked with an innocent expression on his face.

Sarutobi smirked, the boy was truly a talented actor.

Members of the civilian council began to mutter angrily at the mention of the Kyuubi but they were silenced when the second elder, Homura, began speaking.

"You have been summoned, Uzumaki, because of an outrageous rumor concocted by Hiruzen." Homura stated distastefully. "According to him the Kyuubi was apparently destroyed hours ago."

Sarutobi frowned at his former teammates words, many of the council had found the story just as unbelievable as he had but they would soon be proven right or wrong.

Naruto grinned and nodded cheerfully. "Yup yup, Kyuubi was all like 'Free meee' and I was all like 'Nooooo!' And then we had an epic battle before Yondaime-sama and Shinigami-sama showed up and saved Kyuubi's butt from my awesomeness, then..."

Naruto rattled on much to the amusement of those that saw him for the child he was, Sarutobi couldn't help but wonder if any had seen the true genius that lay underneath the mask.

"Yes, yes Uzumaki-san we understand," Koharu interrupted with a slight smile, unlike Homura, Danzo and the civilians she had always liked Naruto and could see him for the little boy he was, not a demon or a weapon to be used.

"Hiashi if you would." Homura muttered after the blond child had stopped talking.

Hiashi Hyuuga, head of the Hyuuga clan, nodded and stood.

**"Byakugan." **He intoned causing the veins around his eyes to bulge.

Naruto frowned slightly when he felt the strain on his illusion over Hiashi but grinned when the hypnosis managed to stay.

'Hmm, so even the Byakugan is susceptible to my illusions? Cool.' The boy thought with a wide grin.

The Byakugan had been know to pierce through many illusions but it would appear his brand of illusions were powerful enough to fool even that vaunted Dojutsu.

"Well?" Homura asked looking over at Hiashi.

The Hyuuga clan head frowned before he replied.

"Despite the report of an increase in the amount of demonic chakra within the boy, I can see no traces of the Kyuubi's chakra." Hiashi stated in an even tone. "His chakra is completely human, although he contains large quantities of it; far more than everyone in this room combined."

His comment brought some astonished looks from the shinobi and a hungry/greedy look from Danzo while the civilian members jumped up in outrage.

"It has to be a trick!" One man yelled. "No human child can have so much power."

"The demon is obviously getting better at blending in." A pink haired civilian shouted.

"The demon is planning something, we should kill it now before its too late." Another male shouted.

"SILENCE." Sarutobi shouted as he finally lost his patience, a spike of killer intent caused the room to immediately fall silent. "You wanted your proof and even now, after an examination from the strongest Byakugan in the village, you still deny the truth? Will you continue to let your hatred for the Kyuubi cloud your judgment in regards to an innocent child?"

He saw a flicker of emotion in a few of the council at his words but most didn't waver at all.

Through it all Naruto simply stood to the side with his ever present smile.

Danzo stood drawing everyone's attention as he prepared to speak. Sarutobi cut him off.

"No Danzo I'm not letting you turn Naruto into one of your emotionless puppets." The Sandaime said with a glare.

The one eyed man returned the glare but took his seat anyways, everyone could hear the gears turning as he tried to formulate a plan.

Sarutobi sighed as he turned to the clan heads. "Inoichi, perhaps you could display the memory for us?"

The Yamanaka clan head nodded and walked over to the young boy.

"This won't hut a bit Naruto-kun." Inoichi said in a soothing tone as he placed a hand on the boys head.

"Okay Yellow-san." Naruto replied with a wide grin causing a few to chuckle at the nickname.

Inoichi smiled before going through a set of hand seals with his free hand and pointing at a blank wall.

"**Memori Hyoji no Jutsu** (Memory Display Technique)." The man murmured.

A beam of white light shot from Inoichi's finger and struck the wall across from them, the second it hit the wall a white square eight feet across shimmered into view before it switched to the familiar sewer that was once Naruto's mind-scape.

The council as a whole watched as Naruto confronted the Kyuubi, some gasped in horror as they saw the demon that had once terrorized their village.

'Strange, the boy looks frightened, true but not as frightened as one would be standing before the Kyuubi.' Shikaku Nara, head of the Nara clan thought. A few others shared the same thought.

They watched as the Kyuubi explained to a frightened Naruto where they were and why they were there, they gasped in shock when the demon revealed Naruto's father as it cursed the man who had sealed it within the boy.

Kakashi's eyes widened beneath his mask. Everyone looked to Naruto with wide eyes as the same thought passed through their heads.

'He's sensei's/the Yondaime's/Minato's child? How did we never notice?'

They watched as the Kyuubi's chakra lashed out and possessed the weakened boy, weakened from an attack by the very people he was protecting.

'We could have brought about our own doom this very night, foolish civilians.' Hiashi sniffed in annoyance, an emotion that was felt by many of the other clan heads.

* * *

Mostly all of them except for the late Uchiha Fugaku had called for the boy to be given a better, well protected, life after the sealing but due to Naruto being an unknown orphan -at the time- he was left in the hands of the civilians. Although they couldn't call for his death they had made his life a living hell since day one, placing him in the worst orphanage the village had to offer, denying all requests for his adoption and keeping him weak and malnourished.

It was only when the boy entered the ninja academy instead of the civilian schools that the Hokage and Shinobi council got some form of control over his well being but by then it was far too late.

* * *

They watched as Naruto fought against the possession but was eventually forced to grab the seal, everyone gasped when both the Yondaime and the Shinigami appeared at the last moment and grabbed hold of the seal at the same time as Naruto.

'Sensei.' Kakashi thought with wide eyes at once more seeing the figure of his father figure and hero.

They watched in shock as Naruto assisted the Yondaime and Shinigami in defeating the Kyuubi, the battle would have been lost if Naruto had lost his will to live and defeat the demon; the seal was based on his willpower after all.

'Even after everything he still protected the village, without him we would all be dead right now.'

Many of the civilians paled as they realized what they had done, they had almost brought about the destruction of Konoha and the death of its inhabitants.

They watched as the soul of the demon cried out in pain and anger before it was sucked into the Shinigami's gut, the more perceptive noticed that the demon had only three tails as it was sucked in.

'Six tails of power, the boy has six of the Kyuubi's tails within him.' Danzo thought with a grin. 'He will make a powerful weapon for the village.'

They watched as the Yondaime congratulated his son before vanishing with the Shinigami, a moment later the screen went dark.

The entire council sat in silence as they considered what they had just viewed, with the memory taken directly from Naruto's mind there was no denying it; the Kyuubi was gone, all thanks to the efforts of the young child before them.

Many of the civilians sat in self-disgusted silence as they realized, after a decade, how wrong they had been about the boy. They had ostracized and practically tortured an innocent child, a hero and the child of the Yondaime at that.

'Dear god, what have we done?'

Sarutobi cleared his throat to draw the attention of the room, even he had been shaken by what they just saw. Of course he had expected it from Naruto's story but to see it happen was truly a shock.

"As you can see the Kyuubi is truly gone, Naruto is no longer a Jinchuriki." Sarutobi stated, some of the shinobi half smiled at his words while the civilians sat in silence, their faces pale.

"I am breaking the S-class law on Naruto's secret both on the demon and his heritage, Naruto will be seen for the hero he is by all generations." Sarutobi stated in a steely tone. "Inoichi please distribute copies of the memory you just viewed, the villagers will require proof that the demon is truly gone."

The Yamanaka clan head nodded and pulled out a scroll as he took his seat.

Naruto released a sigh of relief, thankful that Inoichi was going to copy his own memory. Had he copied Naruto's memory the true events that transpired in the seal would have been copied instead of the illusion Naruto had shown them all.

'I should find some way to alter my own memories in case something like this happens again.' Naruto noted. 'I can't have anyone noticing a difference between my own memories and an illusion.'

"Yay!" Naruto shouted in joy, drawing all attention to himself once more. "I get to be a hero! Does this mean I can be Hokage now? Since I'm so awesome? Huh? Huh? Huh?"

"Stop it Naruto, there's no longer any need for that." Sarutobi stated in a low tone.

Those that heard him held confused looks on their faces as they looked from the boy to the Hokage. Naruto seemed to be thinking about something before he gave the Hokage a nod and everything about him changed.

From head to toe the boy completely and utterly changed, not his clothing mind you just everything else. He now held himself differently, more graceful, confident and coordinated instead of the clumsy mess he once was. His facial expression had also changed, an emotionless mask replacing the cheerful smile that had once lit up the entire room. Even the look in his eyes changed, they no longer held the stubborn determination and innocence the youth was know for, instead they were now the cold, guarded gems of a shinobi.

'A mask? He wore a mask this whole time? How did we not see it?' The Nara clan head thought with a slight frown.

"Hai Hokage-sama." Naruto replied in an even, emotionless tone.

Many of the civilian council were shocked at the difference in the boy, it was like he was a totally different person, the cold and emotionless tone he used caused many of them to shudder.

'Sensei,' Kakashi thought with a sad frown under his mask. 'I should have been there for him, how did I not see the similarities? I should have been there for Minato-senseis son.'

'Interesting, the boy is a far better actor than all of my ROOT operatives and he already seems to have the emotional conditioning of a useful tool.' Danzo thought with glee. 'This gets better and better, the boy is almost a perfect weapon, he just needs the skill and experience to back up all that power.'

Sarutobi continued on, ignorant of his rivals thoughts although he had some idea. "As the last of the Namikaze and Uzumaki clans, Naruto can now inherit the possessions of both clans."

"After Minato and Kushina's deaths I had all their money, scrolls and possessions sealed and placed in the Namikaze estate which as you all know is protected by a blood seal that will only allow a member of the clan and those granted access to enter." Sarutobi explained shooting the civilians a glare.

Many of them had attempted to enter the Namikaze estate soon after the Yondaimes death in an effort to claim some of the scrolls and riches contained, none had succeeded. All efforts had ceased after a particularly stubborn and arrogant council member had been hit and reduced to bite sized chunks by a powerful wind seal incorporated in the defenses.

"He will be given the designation of clan heir like many of his peers but Naruto will inherit his position as head of both clans when he graduates from the academy and is declared an adult." Sarutobi finished looking around the room.

Naruto would be one of the few to achieve such a position at such a young age, the last being Uchiha Itachi after the massacre of his clan. Even if the boy was a missing-nin he was still the first born of Fugaku and the clan rules of the Uchiha clan were very adamant about inheritance, as such Itachi -the murderer of his clan- had inherited the position.

"Are there any objections?" Sarutobi asked with a raised brow.

There were none.

"Very well, I call this meeting to an end." Sarutobi announced standing to leave.

* * *

The second the meeting ended the room dissolved into four small groups.

The first group held the three members of the elder council; Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu and Shimura Danzo. The three had all gathered around Sarutobi and were having a whispered discussion in one corner of the room.

The second group held Inuzuka Tsume, Nara Shikaku, Yamanaka Inoichi and Akimichi Choza who were all gathered together in a separate corner and were shooting glances in Naruto's direction as they discussed the meeting.

The third group was comprised of Hyuuga Hiashi, Aburame Shibi and Kurama Murakumo. The three had all left through the rooms exit and were silently making their way back to their compounds while the days events filtered through their minds.

The last group held the ANBU commander, Hatake Kakashi, and the five members of the civilian council.

Haruno Miyama, head librarian of both the civilian and shinobi libraries.

Nakona Hyogu, head of the merchants guild. His guild oversaw all of the shops and businesses that didn't belong to any of the clans.

Fuziko Koho, leader of the craftsman guild. His guild contained almost every blacksmith, seamstress and craftsman in the village.

Natarumongu Shuizna, director of the financial division and manager of the Konoha branch of the Fire country bank.

Lastly was Titteo Manaka, leader of the civilian police force. A small group that had been created to maintain law within the village after the Uchiha clan Massacre.

This group of six were steadily making their way towards Naruto who stood in the same spot as he had all night.

* * *

Kakashi was the first to arrive and before he could speak Naruto cut him off.

"Hatake-san, I understand you were a student of my father." Naruto said in an even tone.

Kakashi nodded, many emotions evident in his eyes.

Naruto gave the man a small smile. "I would appreciate it if you would perhaps tell me about him sometime and maybe assist in my training," he said in a softer tone. "Whenever you have the time of course."

He could see the happiness in the mans eyes as Kakashi gave a small sigh of relief. Kakashi was both relieved to see that his sensei's son was willing to spend time with him and that the blond wasn't truly as emotionless and broken as he appeared, he could still see some of the old Naruto in the boys smile.

"Sure thing Naruto-kun, it would be my pleasure." With that the man turned to leave. "How did you know it was me by the way." He asked as an after thought.

Naruto chuckled slightly at the question. "Not many have such a hairstyle or color." He replied.

Kakashi chuckled as well before making his way over to the four clan heads that were still in discussion.

With his expressionless mask back in place Naruto turned to the civilian members as they approached and narrowed his eyes slightly, he knew why they were here. Now that he no longer held the Kyuubi and was considered heir to two famous and powerful clans the civilians would most likely try and garner his affections in an attempt to gain more power and prestige.

"Greetings Namikaze-sama, quite the interesting events that trans-" Haruno Miyama began.

"Oh shove it." Naruto interrupted glaring at the five in front of him. "If you civilians think I'm simply going to forget and forgive your crimes against me and my clan then you have another thing coming."

The five paled considerably as the young boys killer intent spiked, drawing attention from everyone else in the room.

"I may be a member of this village and someday a ninja but that's only because it's what my parents would have wanted." Naruto ground out. "Someday I will be a ninja and it will be my duty to protect this village, I will do so in order to protect both my home and those I care for. Never will I do so to protect you worthless pieces of trash, as far as I'm concerned you and all those that thought I was the Kyuubi can all go straight to hell."

With that Naruto turned away from the pale and dumb struck civilians and stomped off, he sent a small smile and nod towards Kakashi and the other clan heads before leaving.

"Well crap." One of the civilians muttered.


	3. Chapter 3

**Morph**

Disclaimer: Don't own any Anime, kapish?

* * *

With the council meeting concluded, Naruto quickly made his way out of the Hokage tower and began the long trek to the Namikaze estates. Finding the clan compound would be an easy task since almost everyone in the village knew about it, it had belonged to one of the most powerful shinobi in the last century after all.

He arrived at the compound without being noticed at all but that may have been because it was quite late in the night, only shinobi on patrol would be out and about at this time of night. With a simple swipe of his blood on the compounds gates, he was easily granted access as the large silver gates, with a stylized letter N in the middle, swung open.

'Now, how do I lock this place down.' Naruto pondered with a frown. 'I don't need foolish and repentant villagers bothering me in the morning.'

* * *

Locking up the compound had been far easier than he expected since someone had left instructions on the other side of the gate; it had only taken a drop of his blood on a hidden seal behind the stylized letter N affixed to the gates.

With the compound locked down Naruto turned to view his new home. He had been provided some information on both his clans by the Sandaime during their talk in the hospital and although not much was known about both clans, it was enough for the young orphan.

The Namikaze clan had been a small clan that had gotten their start by helping found the village along with the Uchiha and Senju clans. They had no blood lines or special traits -except for their bright blond hair, and sparkling blue eyes- but were well known for their battle prowess, skills and genius. Sadly the last few members of the clan had been killed off during both the third shinobi war and the Kyuubi attack, leaving Naruto as the sole member of the Namikaze clan.

The Uzumaki clan however was a large clan that had been based in Whirlpool country, they were well known for their skills in Kenjutsu as well as Fuinjutsu. His mother, Uzumaki Kushina, had fled to Konoha when her village, Uzushiogakure, had been destroyed during the third shinobi war by the combined forces of Iwa, Kiri and Kumo. Due to a distant relation to the Senju clan, the Uzumaki clan was already a well established clan in Konoha allowing Kushina to gain asylum under clan laws. Many other Uzumaki could have survived the invasion and destruction of Uzu but as far as anyone in Konoha knew, Naruto was also the last living member of the clan.

* * *

Naruto whistled as his eyes took in his new home and he couldn't hide the grin on his face as he explored the compound.

The Namikaze estate was a small compound located between the Senju and Uchiha clan compounds. The compound held five small homes, each with enough room for a small family of five, a bathhouse and a training ground. The entire compound was arranged in the form of a large box with the gate and walls at the bottom, two homes on each side, and the last home and bathhouse at the top. In the center of the box was the training ground while there were miles of open space on the outside in case more buildings were ever needed.

Although the compound was small in comparison to those of the Uchiha and Hyuuga clans there was still enough room for several dozen more buildings, leaving him with plenty of space to both train and build upon.

While all the houses were built in the same style, (that of a Japanese home with sliding paper doors, tatami mats, etc.) The one built next to the bathhouse had a much darker roof, designating it as the home of the clan head.

Inside said home Naruto found exactly what he was looking for, his parents belongings.

In the dining area of the home he found five small scrolls on the table with his name on them, unrolling them revealed a large storage seal drawn on each one with a small label beneath. The scrolls were labeled Documents, Finance, Clan, Minato, and lastly Kushina. They were obviously the scrolls Sarutobi had mentioned.

* * *

With a deep breath Naruto unrolled the first scroll and channeled some chakra into the seal, with a poof of smoke the contents of the scroll was revealed.

Contained within the first scroll was a pile of documents belonging to the Namikaze clan, namely birth certificates, a family tree -which showed a small connection between the Namikaze clan and Hyuuga clan-, and a book of clan laws.

While he had already read the book on clan laws after it was assigned in the academy, there was only so much he could remember on a subject that had not affected him at the time. Smiling softly he tucked the small book into his pocket for later use, it would be a good idea to memorize the laws that now applied to him.

The other documents however were sealed up and set to the side. As an orphan, growing up, he had always been interested in his family and whether they still lived.

Now he knew the answer, no.

While he could have some very, very distant relatives inside the village it just wasn't the same, he was the last of the Namikaze and there was no changing that. As for the Uzumaki, any survivors of the attack would be too far gone for him to contact, the odds of him ever meeting another Uzumaki were quite low.

* * *

Unsealing the second scroll Naruto raised an eyebrow as a stack of sheets popped out, each with a storage seal on top and a small caption at the bottom. Grabbing the first three he read the caption at the bottom and felt his eyes widen, each sheet of paper contained several thousand ryo.

The second scroll had contained all the money belonging to both his parents as well as their respective clans.

The Namikaze, although a small clan had been quite rich as a whole, they had made plenty of money from high paying missions as well as the fortune given to the three clans by the Daimyo when the hidden village was first created.

The Uzumaki clan on the other hand had kept most of their fortune in Uzu but due to their relation to the Senju they had also kept a small fortune in Konoha for emergency uses. Being accomplished seal masters, the Uzumaki clan had made quite the fortune from their many jobs and contracts.

His parents had also made quite a lot of money during their time as shinobi, ANBU made quite a lot from the S-class missions they undertook while the Hokage received a large monthly bonus from the Daimyo.

All in all he was now one of the richest people in the village, the amount of money sealed within these sheets could easily last him several lifetimes.

* * *

After a few minutes just staring as the fortune sealed before him Naruto had finally decided to move onto the third scroll. Unsealing it he smirked slightly when two larger scrolls popped out, his clan scrolls.

The first was a large dark-green scroll with the Uzumaki clan symbol on the side, a whirlpool similar to those on Konoha flak jackets. The scroll was a copy of the main scroll in Uzu that had been kept safe in Konoha, it was at least a few decades out of date but held plenty of valuable information.

Unrolling the scroll his eyes widened and his mind boggled at the valuable information this one scroll contained.

Stored within the large scroll was the Uzumaki clan's secrets on Fuinjutsu, there was enough information stored within to help one become a seal master in a short number of years. Considering the fact that his parents had been dating since a young age, Naruto was sure this scroll had helped his father in becoming the genius seal master he became.

Also contained within the clan scroll was a list of C to A rank Suiton jutsu as well as the Kenjutsu style of the Uzumaki clan. Because they lived on an island nation with plenty of water, nearly all members of the clan were born with an affinity for Suiton jutsu. The Uzumaki clan had a variety of clan techniques based on the Suiton element, since they were known to have large chakra capacities most jutsu of the Uzumaki clan were quite chakra intensive.

The Kenjutsu style of the Uzumaki clan was known as the Uzumaki Hane (Whirling Blade), it involved a lot of spinning, ducking, dodging and counter attacking. Because the many spins and turns allowed one to cover all sides, the style was quite devastating against multiple opponents. Although best with multiple opponents it was also quite effective in single combat since the opponent lost their line of sight with the blade during the spins and turns.

It was an effectively powerful style largely based on speed, balance and skill.

Naruto grinned widely when he finished skimming the scroll, the information contained within the Uzumaki clan scroll put him much closer to his goal.

'I'll become a powerful sword user and seal master thanks to this scroll.' The boy thought with a grin. 'With this I can make my ancestors proud and make the Uzumaki famous once again.'

With his conviction in his dream strengthened Naruto turned to the second scroll.

This one was much smaller than the first and silver in color with the symbol of the Namikaze clan on the side, a circle with a set of curving lines within; depending on how he viewed the symbol it would appear as either a wave of water or a gust of wind.

Unrolling the scroll he noticed that it held less information than the Uzumaki scroll, a small note at the top explained why. The Namikaze clan as a whole held very few techniques of their own, mainly because the clan disapproved of specialization in one area. Each member of the clan was raised to hold varied skills in various areas, a practice that passed on to many in the village and one Naruto agreed with; with his father being a master of Taijutsu, Ninjutsu and Fuinjutsu he could see the benefits of mastering many areas of study.

Although they avoided overspecialization and reliance in one skill, the Namikaze clan was well known for their excellent Taijutsu and Futon Ninjutsu. Most members of the clan were born with an affinity for Futon jutsu, allowing the clan to invent a few powerful Futon techniques.

Since they believed in every member walking their own path the clan scroll only contained the most powerful of the clans Futon jutsu, two A-ranks and a single S-rank. The rest of the scroll was dedicated to the Namikaze clans basic Taijutsu style.

The style was known as the Sasu Hachidori (Hummingbirds sting), it was a style based equally on speed, power and flexibility. The style was said to be quite weak in comparison to many others but it was made so that a master of the style would be able to adjust it and create an entirely new and personal style.

Naruto was quite glad to see the information contained within the scroll, Sarutobi had already informed him of the change in his chakra element with wind as a primary and fire as a secondary. With his high affinity for Katon jutsu he would find it quite difficult to use many of the jutsu on the Uzumaki scroll, however thanks to his inherited affinity for Futon jutsu and outrageous chakra reserves he would be able to use the powerful Futon jutsu of the Namikaze clan with ease.

The Taijutsu style of the clan was also perfect for him since he found the academy style to be far too stiff and uncomfortable, with this new style he would be able to create his own style that would work better for him than any other style.

With a wide grin on his face Naruto set both scrolls to the side for further perusal at a later time.

* * *

Grabbing the fourth scroll Naruto smiled softly as he read the label, Minato. This scroll held his fathers belongings, well those that had survived the battle with the Kyuubi.

According to Sarutobi, during his time as Hokage the Yondaime had only kept a change of clothes at the Hokage mansion while the rest was stored within a safe house on the outskirts of the village, a safe house that had been destroyed during the Kyuubi attack. The clothes had been basic Jonin shinobi gear and had been given to the Yondaime's last surviving student, Kakashi, everything else was stored within this scroll.

With a deep breath Naruto applied some chakra to the scroll and unsealed its contents, a small smile spread on his face as his eyes watered slightly. There wasn't much in the scroll but the fact it had belonged to his father and hero was enough.

The first item he saw was a small photo of a blond haired man and a red haired woman, his parents. They looked quite young in the photo and his father was dressed only in Jonin gear meaning he wasn't Hokage yet. Naruto held the photo for several minutes simply smiling as he got his first look and the two people that had brought him into the world and given their lives to protect him.

'I promise mom, dad, I'll work hard and become a ninja you can both be proud of.' The teen thought tucking the photo into the pages of his clan rule book.

He picked up the next item which was a small scroll with the label 'For my Son or Daughter' on the side, unrolling the scroll Naruto smiled slightly at the information within. At the top of the scroll was a list of reference material for the child to look for in the topics of Taijutsu and Fuinjutsu, the Namikaze clan scroll was placed for Taijutsu while a sealing guide -written by the Yondaime himself- was listed for Fuinjutsu.

The rest of the scroll held a compilation of Jutsu ranging from the weak E rank Ninjutsu of the academy to some B rank chunin level Ninjutsu, as well as several different types of chakra control exercises. Apparently his father had prepared a scroll of jutsu for any future child he may have had. Sadly from the look of things he had never gotten the chance to finish the list.

The next and final item in the scroll was a small scroll with a swirling design on the surface, attached to the side of the scroll were a pair of tri-pronged kunai. The blond felt his jaw drop and his eyes widen as he read the three words on the side of the scroll.

Rasengan and Hiraishin.

Naruto simply gaped for several seconds as he stared at the small scroll, his mind trying to comprehend the possibilities held within this small scroll. Within moments he felt a chuckle escape him, then another and another, in a matter of seconds he had broken down and was laughing hysterically.

He had expected to have a few things from his parents but not something like this, if he could master these two techniques he truly would be one of the most powerful ninja alive.

'Oh this is fucking great!' The blond thought finally calming down. 'This is the best birthday ever.'

* * *

Lightly placing his fathers items to the side Naruto grinned widely as he unsealed his mothers items. Like his father, his mother had only a few salvageable items at the Hokage manor, mostly some clothing, scrolls, weapons, tools and personal items.

The weapons and tools, basic kunai, swords and senbon, had been donated to the ninja forces while the clothing and personal effects had gone to a close friend of his mother's, someone who's very name made him seethe with rage, Senju Tsunade.

Only three items were left to be inherited by Kushina's child and Naruto couldn't keep the glee out of his eyes as he beheld the three items.

The first two items were scrolls his mother had kept for any child she may have birthed. The first scroll held a copy of the Uzumaki clans Kenjutsu style and a few C-B rank Suiton Ninjutsu. The second scroll however was a list of Medical techniques taught to entry level med-nin, apparently his mother had been injured more than enough times as a child to realize the importance of medical techniques.

Naruto grinned as he placed the two scrolls to the side and turned his attention to the last item, an item that -to him- was equal in greatness with the Hiraishin and Rasengan scroll from his father.

It was an item that had made his mother the famous and feared kunoichi she had been, an item that went by many names but there was one that many shinobi would easily recognize; the Beniha no Uzu (Crimson Blade of Whirlpool).

The Beniha was one of three legendary weapons created by the master blacksmith, Tatsuko Nashari. Each weapon was said to be nigh indestructible and the best of their kind, they would never dull or rust and it was said that they could cut/break through any obstacle that stood in their path. Unlike the seven swords of the hidden mist or the Kusanagi of the hidden grass, the three weapons of Tatsuko had no special abilities to set them apart from regular weapons, they simply relied on their expert craftsmanship and their wielder's skill to gain their fame. The other two weapons, Uchiha Madara's battle fan/sickle and Senju Hashirama's pole staff, were both lost long ago; most likely in the epic battle that had formed the Valley of the End.

The final weapon, the Beniha, was given to his mother by its previous wielder when she fled whirlpool. She had used the blade well over the years and had created a reputation feared by all her foes.

This weapon, this legendary blade, was now his.

'I'll take good care of your sword mom, the Beniha will strike fear into the hearts of my foes like it once did yours.' Naruto thought picking up the sword.

It was a simple katana with a simple black clothed hilt and a swirl like hand guard but there was one discrepancy that revealed its true identity to all, the blade. The blade of the sword, unlike most katana's and swords, was blood red in color and gleamed with malevolent intent. It was rumored that the sword had been created using the blood of a demon or that it would drink the blood of those it slew, forever coloring it.

No one knew why the blade was such a color but many agreed that the Beniha was a truly fearsome weapon.

* * *

With his weapons and scrolls in hand Naruto made his way to the compounds training ground, although it was quite late at nights he was still well rested from the hospital.

There was always a week long vacation after the Kyuubi festival meaning he had one week to train as much as possible. After this one week he would have nine months to train and prepare, in nine months he would take the academy test.

His father, a true prodigy, had entered and graduated form the academy at the age of ten, gained the rank of chunin at eleven and jonin at twelve. Naruto had decided he would do the same or better, he would show the world his strength.

With his eyes burning with determination Naruto unrolled his various scrolls and began his training.

* * *

-Three days later-

Naruto gasped as he collapsed to the ground, his breathing was hard and sweat drenched his form.

For the last three days he had been training as much as he could, getting little sleep unless he passed out from exhaustion. Some of his training he had taken to with ease, others however were much harder.

The first topic he had decided to train was the Kitsune abilities from Kyuubi, one was easy enough but the other two however...well let's just say he had hit some road blocks.

The Genjutsu ring from the Kyuubi was an easy one for him to master, all he had to do was channel chakra to the ruby eyes to activate the first stage. The second stage had been much harder since he had to constantly channel chakra into the ring to keep the illusions active but after a few hours of practice he had gotten it down, he now had a portion of his chakra allocated to constantly channeling chakra into the ring. While this took up three percent of his overall chakra he had found that the amount of chakra needed for the illusions was extremely low so with improved chakra control he would be able to allocate a lower percentage of his power to it.

His Kitsune-Bi was a whole other matter. Due to the influx of chakra from the Kyuubi and his horrid control, the technique was twice as hard to master now. The smallest fireball he could create was the size of large horse and burned so hot that it had set all the grass in a two meter radius aflame. With his Kitsune-bi being nearly uncontrollable Naruto had decided that chakra control would be the most important skill for him to master.

Lastly was his ability to change forms, while the ability had plenty of perks and nearly no limits (like being able to go from a small rock to a large bear in less than a second) he had found that the limits it did have were the hardest to overcome. While he could make his flesh look like stone or water, he could not actually change it into stone or water. To use his shifting ability he had to visualize and understand what exactly he was changing into, something he found difficult to do.

When using the normal henge one had to simply visualize the form they wanted to take and allow the jutsu to do the work but for him to actually shift, inside and out, he would require intimate knowledge of the form and consistency he wished to take; without the knowledge he would be limited to the consistency of human flesh, no matter the size of his chosen form.

Luckily for him however he had found a simple solution to this problem, a medical Ninjutsu. Contained in his mothers medical scroll was a low rank diagnostic jutsu that could work on both living beings and inanimate objects, the jutsu was mostly used to scan a body and look for any problems but with the right application it could also provide a scan of the subjects make-up. Using this jutsu he could scan people, animals and objects instantly and learn their physical make-up before shifting into it, he could even use it to on a bloodline user and learn how to replicate the bloodline in his own body.

Sadly this jutsu required high amounts of control, less than most medical Ninjutsu but more than he had. If he wanted to use his shifting ability to its full potential he would need to, like with his Kitsune-bi, increase his chakra control. He would need years and years of intense chakra control exercises to increase his control to the proper level.

He didn't have years, he had nine months.

* * *

Naruto was interrupted from his training by a slight tingle at the back of his mind, a feeling he had felt many times over the last few days. The tingle was the blood seal on the gates warning him of a presence attempting to enter.

For the last two days he had been constantly bothered by both civilians and shinobi trying to spot the 'Yondaimes legacy' or the 'Kyuubi's destoryer' a few had called out to him trying to apologize or mention how they had never believed him to be a demon but Naruto would ignore them and continue his training. While some still came by from time to time, he had been mostly left alone today.

Sighing to himself Naruto turned to the gate and cocked an eyebrow when he saw his visitor. It was the bandaged old man from the meeting three days ago, Shimura Danzo.

After taking a moment to order his thoughts and place a blank look on his face Naruto calmly walked over to the gates, he locked eyes with the older man's single eye before speaking.

"Greetings elder Danzo, how may I help you today?" He asked.

Danzo simply examined him for several moments before the old mans lips quirked upwards slightly.

"Greetings Namikaze-san." The man replied "From this day forth I am to be your sensei until you graduate from the academy."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at this, he had read and heard many things about this man. The last he'd heard Danzo was commander of the ANBU black ops department, ROOT, a department few in the village knew about. The only reason he even knew anything about ROOT was from 'glancing' at the documents on the Hokages desk when he had been there to pick up his monthly stipend.

The man had been very powerful shinobi in his youth, he had rivaled the Sandaime in power and had been one of the candidates for the position of Sandaime Hokage. Danzo was also a very good instructor, able to produce Jonin and ANBU level shinobi in a few short years.

Why would such a man want to instruct him?

"I was under the impression that the Hokage forbid you from instructing me." Naruto replied in an even tone.

Danzo smirked slightly before replying.

"Hiruzen and I have come to an understanding of sorts, you are destined to be a powerful shinobi Namikaze and it is in my best interests to assist you in achieving that destiny as soon as possibly." The man explained.

* * *

-Flashback-

"You must let me train the boy Hiruzen." Danzo growled as he stood before his one time rival.

"I already told you Danzo, I refuse to let you turn Naruto into one of your emotion less puppets." Sarutobi growled in reply.

Danzo smirked at his rivals familiar argument.

"But I don't have to, do I?" The bandanged man asked with a chuckle. "You saw the boy in the meeting, he already has the proper emotional conditioning."

Sarutobi couldn't help but agree with his old comrade, Naruto was more like a ROOT member than a regular child.

"Besides the boy needs training to control his large reserves, if you wait too long he will never achieve the control needed to reach his full potential." Danzo spoke, appealing to the other mans attachment to the boy.

Sarutobi frowned. "And why must you be the one to train him? I have plenty of other shinobi that could teach him the control required."

Danzo nodded in acceptance but his smirk remained in place.

"True but how many of them could truly make the boy the strongest shinobi the village has ever spawned? Look at your Sannin, the boy has far more potential than all three of them put together and only you or I can help him reach that potential."

"And why should I believe that you'll help him reach this 'potential'? I know how your ROOT are trained, you purposefully keep them at Jonin level in case they ever rebel." Sarutobi replied with narrowed eyes.

Danzo rolled his eyes in annoyance, Sarutobi had already made his decision and he was simply grasping at straws now.

"There is a difference between the boy and my ROOT," Danzo began. "They are expendable, the boy is not. Namikaze is a leader not a follower, the boy has the makings of a powerful leader, on2 that will make sure Konoha remains the most powerful of the hidden villages; I want to train him to make sure he does as such."

Both elder men stared at each other before Sarutobi finally sighed and hung his head.

"Very well, you may tutor Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto until he graduates from the academy." Sarutobi replied in an official tone. "At that time he will be placed with a Jonin instructor and you may continue training him as long as his Jonin-sensei agrees."

Danzo smirked but bowed respectfully nonetheless, it wouldn't do to give his rival a reason to change his mind.

"Do you require anything else?" Sarutobi asked when the other man remained in the room.

"Yes actually, the boy will require years and years of training to even gain some control over his large reserves." Danzo began "We dont have that long to wait, as such I request the Kage Busnhin scroll in order to accelerate his training."

Sarutobi's eyes widened and he frowned. "You know the dangers of that particular Jutsu, are you sure this is wise?"

Danzo nodded without hesitation. "He easily fits the chakra requirements so there is no risk there, as for the mental strain; I'll inform him of the dangers and make sure he knows to disperse them at an interval."

Sarutobi sighed once more. "Very well, you may teach him the Kage Bunshin, you may as well teach him its deviations as well, with his chakra capacity he is one of the few that can put them to good use."

"Hai Hokag-sama." The other man replied with a smirk.

* * *

"Is that so?" The young boy replied with a raised brow. "And what makes you think I require your assistance?"

Danzo smirked and remained silent for a few moments before replying. "You have more chakra than shinobi twice your age and the genes of two of the greatest shinobi produced by this village, I have heard of your dream from Hiruzen and if you wish to reach your full potential then you will require proper instruction."

The man took a moment to let the words sink in before continuing. "You may be able to reach your goal without my assistance but that will take decades of hard work, with my help that time could be cut down to just a year or two."

Naruto's eyes widened in shock but his mask was quickly placed in position earning a small smirk of approval from the older man.

"And how exactly do you expect to sum up decades of work in a few short years?" He asked with another raised brow.

Danzo nodded and pulled out a small black scroll. "I have here a special clone jutsu that will allow you to train at more than ten times the regular speed, with this Jutsu you could gain months worth of training in a single day."

Naruto eyed the scroll greedily as he thought over his options, he would prefer to keep his skills secret but perhaps Danzo's assistance was a better option.

With his mind made up Naruto swiped some blood on the gates and unlocked them.

"Very well, please come in Danzo-sensei." The boy stated in an even tone.

With a small nod the older man entered the compound.

And so began Naruto's training and hist first step to greatness


End file.
